After doing the painting of Carousel Mountain, I took a break and did a series of little 5×7 studies. I marked off a 16×20 board, and then, working from the laptop next to my easel, I went through a couple of CDs of reference photos, making quick selections, sketching the scene quickly with a brush, and jumping right in. I believe most of these are either west Texas, or along I45 between Dallas and Houston. When I’m in the zone, I end up with some pretty satisfying images. When I’m not, I wonder why I wasted all that board on such crap. This time, I think, I was in the zone. I ended up with nine studies, some of which I’m happy with, and some that could use some tweaking. Maybe I’ll tweak, and maybe not.

Some of these look kind of cool in frames, so I think they will go with us this weekend to Houston for the monthly First Saturday Arts market.

The intent was to play with loose brushwork and color variations. Several of them were laid in with grays, and then I worked color over and into the grays. That’s a process I may spend a bit more time with. Two or three of these might become larger paintings. The grays were produced with cobalt blue, burnt umber and titanium white. I only use DaVinci Gouache, and the palette for all of these was cobalt blue, medium yellow, yellow ochre, red, venetian red, burnt sienna and burnt umber.

Below is a photo of the board before I did some last minute touchups and cut the pieces down to size, followed by five of my favorites from this exercise. All are 5×7, gouache on cold press Crescent board.

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Good choices, but I think you need to look at these again, especially row 2. The first and second (L to R) paintings are wonderful. I love red barns and fences, and the center painting has some great light and shadow. I love old buildings.

One of these days, before you all move, Bob & I would like to purchase one of your large paintings. Not sure when or what, though. Thank you for sharing your latest works with us…it’s a real treat!
Sincerely,
Margaret

WELCOME TO THE BLOG

This blog is dedicated to the art I make and the way I make it. Beginning in 2016, it will also include descriptions of our adventures in our motorhome and recaps of art festivals and shows we attend. Here you will find paintings, sketches and drawings, using gouache, pencil, pen and ink, and watercolor. I also occasionally post step-by-step demonstrations, ~ Hopefully, some of the information found here will be useful.